§ MR. GILHOOLYI beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland whether 20 he is aware that at the Castletown Berehaven Petty Sessions some time ago a number of men charged with riot, assaulting the sheriff, and unlawful assembly, were tried and dealt with summarily; that two resident magistrates adjudicated in the cases; that Mr. Henry Wright, who prosecuted in the Watergrasshill cases, also prosecuted at Castletown Berehaven; and, seeing that he did not then object to the action of the magistrates, can he explain any difference in the cases tried at the petty sessions referred to.
§ THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. ATKINSON, Londonderry, N.)The hon. Member is under a complete misapprehension. In the Castletown Berehaven case, the accused parties having expressed regret for what they had done and entered into recognisances to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, the Crown withdrew the prosecution. The magistrate did not adjudicate on any charge at all. In the Watergrasshill case the justices assembled in obedience to a Writ of Mandamus commanding them to adjudicate on the particular application before them, that was, to return the accused for trial or refuse to return them. This they did not do, but proceeded to adjudicate summarily on a charge not before them.